Since Sports Are Now On - What Are You Watching?

I didn't need family man Bond, and doing it only to immediately kill him off was like a double kick in the nuts.  At the same time, this is the only iteration of Bond that had an actual story arc, and all stories need to end sooner or later.  If nothing else the end was almost anticlimactic.  He had already won, it was horror movie-esque to have Bond circle back for no reason other than to get killed off.

I did like how they handled the other 007.  For years people have been groaning about a black 007 or a female 007; they found a way to do both in this flick and still not diminish Bond himself in the process. Well played.  I'm assuming it's the last we'll ever see of that character though, as the 'James Bond Will Return' stinger tells us we're headed for yet another reboot.

This movie reaffirmed my dislike of horror movies. The old school slasher flicks were fun because they were ridiculous. The story, the bad acting, it was all goofy mindless fun. Even if they took themselves semi-seriously, there wasn't a ton of depth to any of the characters; they were all just archetypes at best, stock characters at worst. The fact that they attempt to give depth to the central characters in these newer films only to have the people behave just as stupidly, makes the entire endeavor pointless.

What I actually enjoyed about the previous installment was that the people took the fight to the killer. Instead of running like idiots and getting picked off one by one, they stood up to him and won. It was a refreshing take on the genre. This movie advertises itself as more of the same, but is really just a lazy commentary on mob mentality, seemingly turning Michael into almost an anti-hero by the end. And of course one of the main characters from the previous film is inexplicably killed by Michael at the end, after he teleports two blocks into the room to get her. Why she went back up into the room is anyone's guess. So the movie is not only a shit show of its own, it also ruins the previous film while it's at it.

I just don't understand what you're supposed to take away from this film. Who do you relate to, the mindless killing machine or the clueless imbeciles? Is it supposed to be dark comedy, like many of the old slasher flicks? If so, why put in scenes like the mother seeing her dead child in the hospital? What kind of emotion is that supposed to evoke, because it doesn't feel like it belongs in a movie like this.

And it isn't simply about the bad guy winning. I love plenty of movies where the bad guy wins. Chinatown, The Shining (the Overlook was the villain, folks), Fallen (1998), The Dark Knight (if you don't think the Joker won, you weren't paying attention), to name just a few. The stories are well written, the characters have depth and the stakes are clearly defined. Halloween Kills is just watching people who were clever in the previous film act like absolute morons and march to their deaths.

I don't get it. I don't understand the appeal. I have a theory that horror flicks are viewed as a type of social commentary by much (not all, obviously) of the audience; kids, minorities, working class seem to make up much of the demographic. So my theory is that horror movies reaffirm a message of hopelessness, and a system that's out to get you and will crush you no matter what. Even if I'm right, how is that escapism? You'd think they'd rather watch a movie where people stand up to the monster? If my theory is correct, it's sad that the audience is supposed to relate to victimhood and simply accept it; but it explains that scene of the mother finding her dead child in the hospital. Sorry to bring it up again, but that scene just doesn't belong in the same movie as the scenes with that couple who bought Michael's house. They were too funny and the hospital scene was too grimly realistic. It wasn't even gory or a jump scare, just bleak. A dead kid on a gurney as his mother screams and cries.

Going by my theory, the final battle with Michael and the crowd (just before he teleports to kill Karen) has disturbing implications. Either the very idea of rising up against your oppressor is being presented as pointless; or, going by the hospital mob scene (and the death of the other inmate that we're supposed to see as a tragedy), it was wrong of them to rise up in the first place. They took things too far and a date with Michael is their comeuppance. Again, I just don't understand the appeal, I don't understand what they were going for here, and honestly, I don't think they quite knew, either.